One thing I don't really understand about the CBA - my understanding is that players are supposed to get 50% of the HRR, and this is achieved by escrowing a certain % of the revenues until the end of the year when HRR can be determined and the appropriate amount of escrow released so that the players as a whole get 50% of HRR. Right now, my understanding is that the salary cap is a fair bit higher than 50% of HRR, so players aren't actually getting paid out their contract value. Is there any provision in the CBA for what would happen if HRR exceeds 2x the salary cap (+LTIR salary owed I guess)? Do the owners pocket all the upside of any situation where revenues exceed expectation?
If so, it might help explain why the NHLPA has elected to escalate the cap every year, even though it seems like revenues did not increase that much over the last while (at least according to this
article from 2017), even though increasing the salary cap basically only benefits the players who are up for a new contract that year (and, based on what we saw with Mangiapane, really just star players) - everyone else who has a longer-term contract can only lose out from the salary cap going up.